A life changed in an instant

-Bruce Rose never looked back on an athletic career ended by injury.

-Bruce Rose never looked back on an athletic career ended by injury.

January 11, 2008|IDA CHIPMAN Tribune Correspondent

Twelve days before Christmas, Betty Kuhn, her voice breaking, said, "We're losing Bruce." And in the dark hours of Dec. 13, with his wife, children and sister by his side, Bruce Rose died in his home in Fort Wayne. He was 51 years old. Old-timers will tell you that Bruce would have been one of the best athletes ever in Plymouth. But he never played a second of football, basketball or baseball at Plymouth High. Instead, he spent his last 36 years in a wheelchair. He never asked, "Why me?" and he told friends he wasn't ever mad at God. "God didn't cause me to get hurt," he would say. "If I hadn't been injured, I would never have met Diane and had two wonderful children." Born in 1956, Bruce moved to Plymouth with his mother in 1960. In 1967, his mom married Robert Kuhn, so Bruce had three stepbrothers -- Art, Jeff and Mike -- and later, a half sister, Mindi. Even as a little boy, it was clear to sports fans in Plymouth that Bruce Rose would be one of the best ever to play at Plymouth. He pitched on Mike Mercer and Russ Moriarty's baseball travel teams, quarterbacked the junior high football team and was the point guard on the basketball squad. He could do it all. An honor student, the slender redhead was a Cub Scout and had dreams of becoming an architect. That all came to an end a week before his 15th birthday, the day before freshman football practice was to begin. Bruce and his stepbrothers were horsing around in the ankle-deep water just off the pier of their summer cottage at Lake of the Woods. "I don't know what happened," Betty said. "I was in the kitchen when I heard some noise outside." She knew instinctively that something was wrong. "I ran outside. Bruce was lying on his back in the shallow water." He said, "Don't let them dunk me. I can't feel anything in my arms and legs." The neighbors came. They got a blanket and called the Bremen EMTs, who laid Bruce flat and rushed him to Plymouth's Parkview Hospital. Dr. Jim Robertson took one look and, without moving the boy from the ambulance, had him transported to Memorial Hospital in South Bend. There, doctors drilled into his head to attach a halo to immobilize his spine. Bruce never remembered anything about the injury, but the doctors said there was sand in his hair. He was paralyzed from the neck down, probably, they surmised, as a result of a diving accident into the shallow water. One said he would never walk again. Another, that he would not live more than five years. The nurses charged with his care at Memorial fell in love with Bruce. When doctors determined that he should have extensive treatment at the Rehabilitation Center in Chicago, his nurses wrote to The Tribune's Action Line column to get the family some help. The Kuhns -- Betty and her husband, Robert -- had sold off property and drained their accounts, as had Bruce's grandparents, Gether "Tiny" and Theda Grant. Cards and letter poured in -- more than 4,000 -- from all over the country. Some contained a nickel, others a good deal more than that. Proceeds were donated from a junior high football game and a freshman high school basketball game. On "Bruce Rose Day," his classmates walked the downtown and sold tickets to the games and gave out paper roses made by the high school art classes. The money was raised for Bruce to go to Chicago. "I do not know to this day," Betty said, "the exact amount, but it was thousands and thousands of dollars. "It is wonderful to know that so many people cared and many helped Bruce get to Chicago." And he did well. There was no change in the paralysis, but he was able to sit up. He chose to have his hands stiffened so he could use them, and he was able to come home on weekends. After a year, Bruce went back to school and, with a lot of hard work and cooperation by the teachers, graduated with his class in May 1975. "His classmates carried him across the stage to get his diploma and, when he did, everyone in the audience stood up," Betty said. Bruce went to Indiana University, Bloomington, but only stayed a few months. The following fall, he enrolled at Ball State University, where he made many friends in the handicapped community. Bruce worked hard at being a productive human being. He graduated with a degree in business from Ball State in 1992, receiving the Outstanding Alumnus Award for Student Development. After graduation, he worked in the university's Handicapped Orientation program, even writing a booklet, still used, as a guide for the special-needs students. One of his biggest achievements is the placement of specialized gear in the school's swimming pool. Another is making adjustments in a dorm room for a man in an iron lung so he could maneuver into the space and be free of his apparatus for a few hours each day. While at Ball State, he and Diane Miller, an attendant for a young woman unable to walk, fell in love. They were married in 1983. They have two children: Jennifer, 21, a student at IUPU-Fort Wayne, and Jordan, 18, a senior at Snider High School. A computer geek, Bruce could build a computer from scratch. He worked at an in-house help-desk at Lincoln Life in Fort Wayne for more than 20 years. He was in all of the Fantasy Leagues, winning year after year in football, basketball and baseball, and was almost finished with a complete genealogical study for his family. A year ago, Bruce's health began to deteriorate. In a five-hour surgery, doctors took the main part of his bladder out. A second surgery found evidence of an incurable cancer. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Bruce came home from the hospital and began sorting his sports memorabilia from years ago, making sure that the Bears photos, the Notre Dame collectibles and the football from Ara Parseghian were to be left in good hands. Bruce Rose was a hero to many people. Susan (Chipman) Nichter, a school social worker for 19 years in the Greenfield-Central Community School Corp., talks to elementary school children and their teachers about surviving the storms of life, positive attitudes and making the most of their lives. Bruce has been the topic of many classroom lessons and counseling sessions. "I will continue to use Bruce's story to teach and encourage children," she said. "He lived the motto: 'Life is 10 percent of what happens to you and 90 percent of how you react to it.'" He once told a friend, Bryce Reiter, "If you decide to run with the ball, remember you're going to fumble and be knocked down a lot. But never forget how much fun it is to run with the ball." And he never forgot. His mother was wrong when she said, "We're losing Bruce." Bruce Rose will never, ever be lost. Story ideas? Call Ida Chipman (574) 936-1124 or e-mail her at ichipman@thenetanywhere.com